Thursday, January 24, 2013

Hello dear stitching friends! Can you believe that there are only a few days remaining of the first month of the new year? And what have I been up to these past few weeks? Well, I have a big announcement to make - after years of 'playing' around with designing, making sketches and dreaming of creating more of my own designs I am finally doing it!

I am happy to announce the launch of Lady Lexi Designswith this 'Be My Valentine' design! The ePattern is available in my new little Etsy Shop in pdf format!

But how can I launch a shop without a little gift to my friends? Here is a 'True Love' freebie for Valentine's day - I finished it as a long pillow with red check fabric and it is trimmed with cotton lace, a red ribbon and a cute little heart charm.

I used DMC 321 for this piece, but you can choose which ever fibers you like :) If you have any trouble saving the chart, or if you would like me to send it to you directly, please email me.

If you do stitch one of my designs, please feel free to email me some pictures - I would love to see your finishes! You might also be wondering where the name 'Lady Lexi Designs' comes from? For regular readers of my blog - you are right - it is named after my dog Lexi, who at almost two years old, is a real lady and also my sweet 'baby'!

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Hello my dear stitching friends and a warm welcome to my new followers! The last of my Christmas packages finally arrived in the new year! This gift was sent to Lee in Brazil and included quite a few handmade gifts, as well as some Christmas labels, Christmas themed mini pegs, a souvenir teaspoon of South Africa and a Christmas card:

I stitched this Christmas tree for Lee - it is a segment from 'Vintage Christmas' by Country Cottage Needleworks and finished as a hanging pillow ornament (also shown in a previous post):

The design for this needle painted pinkeep is from Trish Burr's book Needle Painting Embroidery: Fresh Ideas for Beginners and is backed with the pictured fabric (also shown in a previous post):

This gorgeous beaded doily was made by my mom especially for Lee! The work is so delicate and I just love the 'pink-gold' colour of the beads! Thank you mom for making this gift for my friend!

Here is a pic of all the handmade gifts:

I also included a little gift for Larissa. She is a student at Lee's embroidery school and was kind enough to send me a gift last year. Larissa also received some handmade gifts, Christmas labels, Christmas themed mini pegs and a Christmas card:

This sweet little 'Prancer' is by JBW designs and is stitched on 28ct blue linen and finished as a hanging pillow ornament - such a cutie!

I also made these counting/marking pins and matching scissors fob for Larissa - I hope she likes them!

Well, that 'wraps up' the Christmas gifts for last year - I am always so relieved when all the packages arrive safely at their new homes :)

Friday, January 4, 2013

Hello dear stitching friends - I hope you have been enjoying the first few days of 2013! I would like to share the last stitchy finishes of 2012 with you. My mom and I finished our stitching on The Fairytale Advent Calender by The Little Stitcher before the end of the year! This was such a fun stitch - here are some pics:

The backstitching is also complete and they are now ready to be finished into little hanging pillow ornaments.

They are stitched on self-dyed 28ct evenweave in the recommended DMC threads.

Such a lovely quick stitch - I have been trying to decide which one is my favourite - I do love the reindeer and sleigh motif (23)!

I have really been enjoying the Christmas stitching (I have a few stitched ornaments from last year that still need finishing!) and decided to kick the year off with an 'Ornament for January'. Here is a pic of my first few stitches of 2013 - hopefully I will be able to share the finish soon :)